


Welcome to the asylum

by NYWCgirl



Series: Abyssinia [2]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Dark fic, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Procedures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-03-01 05:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2760563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal and Peter go undercover in an asylum.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the asylum

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a sequel to Lockstep and also fills the ´ archaic medical treatment ´ square on my h/c bingo card. It was written for Caffrey-Burke day.  
> Remember, this story is set in the 1930s, so wording is not always as we would use it today (e.g. the use of the word inmate to describe a patient, a rubber heel, see the pic, it was used to prevent patients from damaging their teeth), but I tried to be as accurate as possible.  
> Thanks to the wonderful papallina for her betawork. But remember, all mistakes and typos are mine, and mine alone.  
> cross-posted on http://nywcgirl.livejournal.com/10188.html

 

Overbrook Insane Asylum, November 14th 1935   
  
The doctor observes the patient for a while, trying to start a conversation but so far the young man just stares blankly at his hands, which are lying in his lap. The sister is overly concerned, she looks at her brother with affection but also with a certain sadness. This brother and sister are from a very well to do family, their clothes are of the finest quality and a la mode. The doctor is impressed.   
He looks down at his notes and starts writing:   
  
_ Nick Halden: _  
_ Male, Caucasian, age 23, single, native of U.S. _  
_ Committed November 14th, 1935 _  
_ This man is suffering from melancholic depression. Parents died in a car accident.  _  
_ Nevertheless, he seems an intelligent and educated man. He is committed by his sister. I cannot obtain a reasonable answer from him, in a word, he is in a state of stupidity.   _  
  
The doctor closes his patient file looking Miss Halden in the eyes.    
´We will take good care of your brother. The nurse at the desk will provide you with the paperwork.´   
With that, he escorts Miss Halden out of his office, while two attendants take care of his just committed patient. The two attendants take their patient by the arms and escort him to his room. His suitcase is already taken care of and checked for anything of illegal by another staff member. Especially since the rich patients tend to smuggle illicit substances into the asylum.   
When they push the patient in his room, he doesn´t resist.   
´Make yourself comfortable, you are going to be here for a while´, one of the attendants says with a chuckle.   
  
*  *  *   
  
Neal looks around, bland off-white walls and a thin mattress on an iron frame. Not really a luxury hotel. There are bars to the window.  ´Well, it certainly beats prison.´ Neal thinks.   
The room is chilly and there is only a thin woolen blanket, but it looks clean enough and he brought his pajamas, hopefully he won´t be to uncomfortable staying here. He remembers his role, so he just stays seated on the bed.    
After an hour, he is getting bored but he remains still, playing a chess game in his mind.   
By the time it is dark;, an attendant opens the door and tells Neal that supper is served. Neal follows him into the dining area, and he is seated on a table with nine other patients, but he doesn´t say anything, playing the depressed patient part. Although he is starving by now, he only eats half of the tasteless beans and potatoes.   
After supper all patients are expected to go to their rooms, difficult patients or first timers like him are escorted. Once he is in the room, he hears the door being locked in for the night. Maybe it is not so much different from prison. Neal sleeps fitfully, waking every so often from the sudden screams from other patients.  
  
*  *  *   
  
At 6.00 a.m. an attendant comes through the door assuring Neal that everything will be alright and that it is time for breakfast. This (attendant) orderly seems nicer than the two Neal met yesterday.   
He is told that he is expected to be ready in fifteen minutes. Stiffly Neal gets out of bed and walks over to the basin to freshen up. He dresses slowly and sits on the bed when the attendant comes back to escort him to the dining area. Breakfast is a foul tasting slob with lukewarm coffee. After breakfast, Neal is told that he is scheduled to go out in the yard. So he gets his coat and goes outside with the other patients.   
Neal notices that most patients seem perfectly normal, although most of them seem defeated, resigned, worn out. It is cold outside, even in the bleak winter sun, so Neal starts pacing around the yard. At the other side of the field that separates the yard from the sport facilities, a group of inmates is playing baseball. But as Neal is not a sports fan, he just watches from a distance.   
After some cold hours outside, the inmates are let inside for lunch, a bowl of oatmeal with a cup of tea, hardly enough to warm him up. Neal is already regretting that he didn´t bring his gloves and hat. After the meager meal he is taken to the farming house on the grounds, where also the stables are located. He is told that he needs to groom a horse named Bugsy. It is supposed to be therapeutic. Neal is glad with the job as it is warmer in the stables than in the yard.    
He isn´t a shrink, but he can see how grooming the horses would work in calming patients. When he is done, he walks over to the next horse and wants to start grooming it, but he is pulled away by an attendant.   
´You don´t do anything, unless we tell you, understood?´ he barks at Neal.   
Neal shrinks away and whispers a meek ´OK´.   
´What did you say son?´   
´Yes, I heard you´, Neal states a bit more sure.   
He is grabbed by his arm and dragged out of the stables to the hitching post.    
Not again, Neal knows from experience that being tied up to a hitching post will be unpleasant, even more in this cold.   
When it is time for supper, Neal is released and let by the attendant to the dining room. He is chilled to the bone and can´t stop shivering, so he welcomes the meager soup and bread that is accompanied with sugary tea. Neal is not sure what to expect as this is only his first day at the asylum.

*  *  *

On Wednesday there is the weekly staff meeting.   
Doctor Bottega always looks forward to these meetings, he can learn a lot and he enjoys talking to some ´sane´ people. As he is the junior doctor on the staff, he gets all the lost causes.    
Doctor Brooke, the responsible physician, keeps all the interesting patients for himself.   
Today, there is a new face among the non-medical staff. The man looks in his late thirties, brown hair, kind brown eyes, taller than average. He introduces himself as Peter Morris, he is hired as base ball coach for the Overbrook semi-professional base ball team. Their last coach just left without telling anyone. The new coach looks like a decent enough guy.   
After the introduction of the new staff member and discussion of the week planning, the non-medical staff leaves. The doctors, attendants and nurses will discuss the new inmates and the more difficult cases. Doctor Bottega discusses his newest patients with ill concealed disinterest as he is more invested in what doctor Brooke has to tell, as he will be performing a lobotomy later in the week.   
After Peter has introduced himself to the rest of the staff, he leaves the main building to go back to the garden villa where he is staying with 19 other staff members, most of them attendants.   
He is hired by the asylum as a base ball coach and he has already met his team. They are good, he has to admit, no wonder that they are semi-pro. He doesn´t know where Neal is. Peter has seen Neal lurking around the yard, he looked like he had been watching the baseball team from a distance.   
Neal and he are undercover in the asylum after allegations about neglect and abuse of patients. Before they even could start their investigation, the baseball coach left, and his family reported him missing two days later at the local authorities.    
The asylum had been in the papers approximately a decade ago when twenty four patients were left to freeze to death in their beds when the boiler broke down. So the FBI took the case and that is how Neal and he are now in the asylum, looking into the matters.   
Neal had been brought by car to the asylum by El, posing as his older sister. Peter had taken the train as Overbrook has its own train stop on the Caldwell branch of the Erie Railroad. The asylum is impressively located on the top of a hill.   
The edifices are made out of red bricks, and in front of the villa there is a porch where Peter sits down with a glass of ice tea.   
His team will practice in the afternoon, so he has some time to himself, wondering, no worrying about Neal. How is he doing? Hearing all the stories of abuse and neglect told by family members and former patients has him on edge. He has warned Neal not to do anything stupid that would get him into trouble with the medical staff. That is also why they went with the melancholic depression. Neal had opted to pretend to be a psychopath, but Peter was too worried that he would get hurt by the staff if they were afraid of him. It would be fairly easy for Neal to pretend to have a depression, no risk to the medical personnel, no risk for harm to other patients or the patient himself. But still…   
El and Neal had posed as a well to do family, being heirs to a steel baron, because Peter didn´t want Neal being locked up with hundreds of ´normal´ patients. This way, Neal would have a private room and conceivably more opportunity to investigate.  Neal would hopefully not be placed naked in one of the dormitories, like they did with so many patients. He gets up and walks back to the practice area, he has to get the gear ready for afternoon practice.   
  
*  *  *   
  
For the last couple of days, Neal has been working in the yard as he was told. He is tired, cold and hungry and, so far, except for the grooming, he hasn´t had any treatment. He has seen some abuse and he has already experienced some himself, but nothing that can be called excessive, well, not to the point of bodily harm.   
Neal has stopped acting depressed, but it seems that the more normal he talks and acts, the more he is considered a mental patient.   
Two days ago he had spoken up when one of the attendants hit a patient while he was dragged away. He was told to go back to the common room, but when Neal hadn´t left immediately, they had come for him as well. Neal had resisted and that had only resulted in being put in a restraining garment. He had been confined on his bed and left there, no food, no water, and no way to relief himself. Nobody had responded to his pleading, so in the end, there had been no other option than to wet himself. He had never felt so humiliated. When the attendant entered the room the next morning, he had voiced his frustrations; it had only resulted in a cold shower.   
In the morning, after a breakfast of stale bread and the weakest coffee Neal has ever tasted, he isn´t told to go to the farm, instead, he would have been subjected to some therapy. Neal isn´t expecting what happens next. Two attendants grab him and he is led to a room with a couple of beds where people are lying mummified in sheets. Neal is laid on one of the cots, after being stripped of his clothes. When his back hit the ice cold wet sheets, he gasps. Before he can move, the two orderlies with the aid of the nurses have wrapped him up thigh as well.    
His eyes are bandaged so he cannot see and he is left to his own thoughts. Neal now realizes that this must be the infamous wet sheet therapy. He heard about it when they were preparing for this undercover job, but it is worse to experience it.   
Neal tries to shift and can´t stop his mind from wandering. What is Peter doing at the moment? Playing baseball, while he is freezing his balls off? Neal tries to calm himself, since he isn’t able move, and without no other distractions, he lets his mind wander freely.   
After what seems like an eternity, Neal feels the blankets being loosened. He is pulled to his feet, the bandages around his eyes removed and clothes being pushed in his hands. Neal dresses and he is escorted to the dining area for lunch.   
During the uneventful lunch, Neal is so chilled that he just sits silent with his hands around his cup of tea to leach some of the warmth out of it.   
With lunch behind him, Neal is escorted to what looks like showers, but when they get there, he is stripped, _not again_ , and restrained by his wrists, his arms pulled to the sides, he can´t do anything but wait to see what will happen next. And without warning he is sprayed with cold water.    
´Not more hydrotherapy´ Neal thinks.   
After being hosed down, Neal is completely wasted. His energy is drained and he is in a bad mind set.   
At supper he doesn´t eat and he sees one of the attendants making notes, but he is not sure that the notes are about him or another patient. One of his table companions speaks to Neal trying to make small talk. Neal is drained, but so glad with inter human contact, that he engages in the conversation. He is here less than a week, but it feels like he has been here much longer.   
Otto, the inmate, introduces himself and asks what Neal is in for,   
Neal dishes up his covers story, that he has lost his parents in a car accident. Otto claims to be sane, his parents have committed him to get rid of him, at least according to his story.   
After supper Neal is escorted to his room and he barely registers that the attendant locks the door behind him.  
  
*  *  *   
  
6.00 a.m. Neal lays awake in his tiny bed, underneath the white covers, his muscles sore from the cold pack therapy and the awkward position he was forced to stand in the showers yesterday.   
At 6.15 a.m. the attendant bangs on the door just as Neal is drifting off to sleep again. Neal incoherently moans an OK. It’s 6.30 a.m. when the door open and he is led to breakfast room.   
Otto sits down next to him and warns Neal that he should eat something. When Neal looks questionable at him, he explains that Neal will not like being force fed by the attendants. Neal agrees and bolt down the cold toast with jelly and the cup of coffee. He asks Otto when he will be seen by a doctor, which earns him a strange look from Otto.    
´Why would you want to be seen by a doctor?´   
´I want to feel normal again´ Neal replies.   
´Trust me Nick, you don´t want to gain the interest of the doctors.´   
´Why?´ Neal tries innocently.   
´Just take my word for it.´ Otto looks afraid when one of the attendants starts walking to their side of the room, so Neal doesn´t push it.     
Neal is told to go to the farm, so he goes to the stables to groom the horses, when he bumps into Peter.   
´Sorry sir´ Neal says meekly.   
´No worries, I was looking for a horse I can take out.´ Peter says with a friendly expression.   
´You ride coach?´   
´Yeah, I grew up upstate and I used to have my own horse. When I saw all these fine horses, I couldn´t resist to take one out.´   
´I was told that Arabesque is a nice calm horse, maybe you can try him?´   
´Thanks, and what is your name?´ Peter asks.   
´Nick, sir´. Neal walks away to continue with his chores.   
By lunchtime he is pretty sore and he hasn´t seen Peter again. He asks Otto what he has been doing that morning, but Otto is not in a talking mood. Neal can relate after his so called therapies. But during lunch, Neal notices dark bruises on his wrists and neck. Whatever they have done to him, it hasn´t been gentle.   
The rest of the day passes quiet. Neal wonders what has happened to Otto. It must have been scary, because Otto hasn´t said a word about it, only glancing at the medical staff.   
Four days later, Otto arrives at supper looking like a zombie. He has dark shadows under his eyes, and bruises on his wrists as if he has been restrained. Otto´s eyes look haunted, but when Neal wants to ask what happened, an attendant moves towards them and they eat their meal in silence.   
Just before they are escorted to their rooms, Otto simply says ´Therapy´. Neal can only guess what has happened when he is resting in his bed listening to the screams of the other patients.

 

*  *  *

 

Neal sees Peter sometimes at the stables when Peter wants to ride one of the horses, but they are never in the opportunity to really talk as there is always an attendant close by to watch Neal.    
Neal is getting frustrated by the lack of progress, but Peter is always just happy to see Neal well and sane. Peter has seen for himself how patients are mistreated, but this is common in asylums. The medical and non-medical staff is not using excessive force, so… it may not be a perfect system but nothing criminal is being done or none anyway that he or Neal have witnessed.   
A month passes and El comes to visit her brother. She asks a member of the staff if it possible to see the baseball coach as an acquaintance has asked her to pass a message to Peter Morris. She hopes it sounds legit enough, because she is desperate to see Peter. When she is led into the visitor room, Neal is waiting for her. He looks worn and haunted but since there are several attendants in the room, they only make small talk. Neal assures her he is fine. They have a cup of tea together. It is the first real hot tea he has had since he arrived in Overbrooke.   
El, then, asks the staff to be escorted to Peter Morris as she has a message for him. A nurse walks with her to a garden villa, which on itself looks a lot better than the main building where Neal is locked up.   
El lets out a sigh when she sees that Peter is OK. Since he is a staff member, they are left alone.   
´How is he doing, El?´ is the first thing Peter asks. They can´t risk physical contact, but El can see that Peter has to use all his willpower not to grab her and kiss her.   
´He says he is fine, but he looks pale and worn. He didn´t say anything to me as there was staff in the room. He said that he was getting hydrotherapy, so that is right up his creek. Lounging in some spa, enjoying the scented baths´.    
´Only Neal´ Peter  laughs. He is relieved that Neal is doing OK.   
´The food ,however is not up to his standards, so I guess that is why he is so pale.´  El prepares to leave as it isn´t believable that she stays any longer.   
´Miss you, hon.´ Peter whispers.   
´Me too, be careful, hon.´ she replies.   
  
*  *  *   
  
When Neal arrives for lunch one day, Otto is not there. Neal looks around but he is nowhere to be seen. Before he goes back to the farm, he asks where Otto is, but the only reply he gets from the staff is that Otto is discharged. Which seems strange as Otto hadn´t mentioned it at breakfast. Neal walks to the farm lost in his thoughts when he bumps into Peter, who is on his way to the main building.   
´Hi Nick, we are having a Christmas gathering in two weeks, do you want to join us?´ Peter asks smiling.   
´Yeah, that would be nice´ Neal quickly adds ´Otto disappeared.´    
´OK, see you around´ Peter continues his way to the main building.   
Later that night, when Neal is led into the dining room, he asks one of his table companions whether they know where Otto is. Neal observes that some attendants are throwing him sideway looks. After diner, he expects to be led to his bedroom, but instead, he is walked to the hydro-room.   
´Not again´ Neal starts pleading with the staff, but he is restrained in a sort of hammock and placed in a bathtub. The top is covered with a coarse cloth.  A canvas sheet with a hold cut for his head is placed over him . He isn´t going anywhere with that contraption on.  A bandage is applied over his eyes to block out any visual distractions; or so the nurse explain him meanwhile.  Warm water is run into the bathtub, so Neal slowly starts relaxing. This isn´t so bad, in fact it is a lot better than the chilled sheets or the forced showers.   
At some point Neal falls asleep due to the warmth and the darkness.   
However, he jolts awake when he is hit by a stream of chilled water. Within seconds his teeth  are chattering  violently and he cries out. He is completely disoriented, wishing to know what is going on. But soon, he is so cold, he feels lethargic and his thoughts are all over the place. The shivering lessens and he is getting numb. He doesn´t care really anymore.   
Suddenly  he feels like he is dipped in boiling water. The water itself is not very  hot, but to Neal´s chilled skin, it feels like he is boiled alive. He adjusts quickly and enjoys the warmth and soon he dozes off again.   
Every time he is hit by the cold water, he jolts awake and is then weaned into sleep again by the warm water. By the time they are finished, he is completely disoriented because of the cold. His speech is slurred when the doctor sees him. The doctor reaches a new diagnosis within minutes: Schizophrenia.   
Neal´s thinking is clouded and he is not completely tracking when he asks the doctor where Otto is.   
´Don´t break your pretty head on that, Nick´ the doctor informs him. Two attendants enter the room and take Neal to a small cell where his wrists are restrained to the opposite walls. A belt around his waist is attached to the ceiling. When they close the cell door, it is pitch black and Neal is still shivering from the hydrotherapy.   
He doesn´t know how long he has been standing there when he starts seeing colors in front of him. After a while the colors change into people. He sees Otto. He is all alone in a room and a doctor is operating on him without sedation. Otto is screaming but Neal cannot get to him, he struggles but is no use. Otto changes into Peter and Mozzie.   
When Neal is pulled from the cell, he is babbling incoherently about Otto and treatments, operations, etc..  The attendant reports this to doctor Brooke. He suspects that Nick Halden is not who he claims to be. Doctor Brooke tells Rob, the attendant, to keep a close eye on Nick Halden.   
Neal is led to the dining area and supper is served. He is disoriented and confused. His last coherent thoughts were him having supper, it confuses him, how can he be having the same meal? He has no appetite and hardly eats anything. When he is escorted to his room, he manages to squeeze something in the lock so the door is not locked when they close it. He waits after the nightshift starts (their work) and then slips out of the room. He sneaks towards Otto´s room but it is completely empty, he goes into several other rooms looking for Otto. But because of his previous treatments, he misses the nurse who sees him sneaking back into his room.   
She enters shortly afterwards with two attendants. Neal is tie down with a restraining garment to the bed. He tries to oppose them, but he is too weak to really put up a fight. Disposed and restrained in the bed, he let his mind and body relax, there is nothing he can do to free himself  from that damn thing, and soon he is asleep, dreaming of Otto.    
  
*  *  *   
  
He wakes with a start but can´t move. He is lifted of the bed and placed on a gurney and wheeled to one of the therapy rooms.   
The restraining garment is taken off and wrists and ankle restraints are fastened. Before Neal can react or say anything, a rubber heel is placed between his teeth. A nurse holds his chin and he feels the sting of an injection in his arm. He wonders what is going to happen when an explosive seizure hits him.   
When he awakes, Neal is confused about what happened. He feels horrible. ´Was I in an accident?´ he asks the nurse that is standing next to him.   
´No, sir, but come along, you need to wash up for supper.´   
´Supper?´ In Neal´s memory, it is morning. He just had breakfast. Neal is not sure of his own memories anymore and he cooperates with the staff. The doctor, who sees him before being whisked off to bed, seems satisfied with Neal´s confused state of mind.   
The next morning is a repetition of the day before. Neal is lifted of his cot before he is fully awake, the rubber heel placed in his mouth, but by now Neal knows what is going to happen, so he fights them with everything he has, But to no avail, he feels the injection and then he smells strawberries. Which is odd in itself as it is winter and there are no strawberries.   
The nurse who is holding the patient´s chin and ensures that the rubber heel  stays in place, so the patient won´t bite his tongue, hears him mumble strawberries. She knows that the seizure is imminent. Neal starts convulsing and it is a bad fit, the nurse notices. Three attendants keep the patient tethered to the bed, but the nurse is still afraid that he might have pulled some muscles.   
The seizure stops as abruptly as it started, and leaves the patient unconsciousness. He has fouled himself during the convulsion, so the nurse changes his garments, and he is placed in a bed to sleep it off. This is a privilege that is only for the well to do.   
When Neal wakes up with a terrible headache, he is so confused that he is asking for Peter and El.    
The staff doesn´t pay attention to him and places him in a wheelchair.  A nurse wheels Neal to the day recreation room. She places him in front of one of the windows, looking out at one of the snowmen, the patients must have made.   
Neal feels horrible, his head is killing him, he feels disoriented and disconnected from his body. He has no clue why he is sitting there or how he got in that area.   
The attendants and nurses report a docile patient Halden. He cooperates and this is noted as a big improvement.   
  
*  *  *   
  
Peter hasn´t seen Neal in the farm for a couple of days and he is worried. With no way to contact his people, the telephones are operated by an operator so they listen in on all the calls, he is getting anxious. He smiles when he sees a large snowman on his way to the main building. He hopes to see Neal somewhere.   
´Coach Morris, what a pleasure to see you´, one of the nurses, Jeannie, says as she sees Peter. He knows she has an eye for him, so he is always friendly, you never know when you can use an alley in this place.   
´Yeah, with the snow, we can only practice indoors, so that leaves me with some time on my hands´ Peter replies.   
´Oh, maybe you can help us with the Christmas decorations? We can always use the help of a strong, fit man as yourself´, Jeannie says and her cheeks flush.   
Peter nods, ´sure´. This will give him a legit reason to walk around the main building the next couple of days.    
´Show me where you keep the decorations and I will start´.    
Nurse Jeannie walks in front of Peter through the day recreation room and Peter barely can stop himself from reacting.    
Neal is sitting at a table with a chess board in front of him. He looks tired and haunted, but nurse Jeannie is oblivious to the reunion of the two men, and Peter quickly follows her, giving Neal a quick last look. He catches up with her and starts some small talk.   
They enter some storage space and Jeannie hands Peter a big box marked ´christmas´, the other boxes also contain decorations.   
´Maybe you can start in the day recreation room as that is the place where most patients spent the day´, Jeannie suggests. And with that, her duty calls and Jeannie leaves Peter alone. He hurries back with the box and while watching Neal, he starts putting up decorations. Neal never once looks at him, he doesn´t move much all. Peter asks for help from the patients and slowly moves up to where Neal is sitting.   
´Hey, Nick, is it? I saw you at the farm. Can you help me put up these up?  ´ Peter smiles at Neal, who startles when he is addressed.   
´Yes, I can help´ Neal almost whispers and gets up, limping towards Peter.   
´What happened?´ Peter asks worried.   
´Nothing, why?´ Neal looks confused. ´I am fine, coach´.   
Peter looks even more confused at Neal, but Neal interprets it as Peter being angry, so he hastily says that he is fine, and that therapy is working. Neal is working himself into a state of agitation, so one of the nurses comes towards them and tries to calm him. And it seems to work, Neal begins to settle down and the attendants leave them alone. Only a nurse named Virginie, as Peter reads on her name tag, that she is called Virginie, stays with Neal. Once she has made sure that Neal is OK and calm, she goes to tend to her other duties.   
Peter is now more careful in his approach to Neal.    
´Sorry Nick, I didn´t mean to rile you up. Come help me with the decorations´ Peter gently pulls Neal by his arm.   
´Warm hands´ Neal mumbles. Peter looks at Neal, but leaves it, he doesn´t want a repetition of earlier. After about 15 minutes, Peter asks if he found something on Otto. And with hearing the name, Neal seems less confused, as if the name puts things back in place in his mind.   
´Otto, I…´ Neal looks around him. “They said he went home, but his parents where here and I heard them ask about him. Otto told me that he was getting therapy”.   
Peter snorts.  ´Is it the sort of therapy you are receiving? What happened?´   
Neal stares blankly at Peter ´I don’t know, it hurt, but I can´t remember what they did´.   
Peter sees two attendants and a doctor walking towards the room they are in, so he quickly whispers ´We have to find Otto´.   
´We are done here Nick, thanks for helping. I will ask to the docs if you can help me in the other rooms as well´ Peter smiles, and looks to the doctor, he recognizes him as doctor Brooke.   
´Doctor Brooke, I have a question. Nick here helped me very well. Can I borrow him to decorate the other rooms as well?´ Peter ask pleasantly.   
´Nick, do you want to help coach Morris?´   
´Yes, please, I would be happy to give a hand with the decorations´ Neal’s says quietly.   
´Well coach, it looks like you gained yourself an helper´ the doctor states before leaving them.   
Peter and Neal put up adornments while looking for Otto. At some point Peter looks outside and sees another snowman, it is huge , but it adds to the Christmas spirit.   
He drops Neal off in the dining room when they are finished with their floor and gives Neal a quick squeeze in his shoulder, before he turns.   
´Warm hand´ Neal mumbles again.   
´Thanks Nick´   
´You are welcome coach´.   
Neal looks lost but finds his place at the table and notices that at the furniture next to his table, a patient is missing. He quietly asks one of the inmates where their companion is and they whisper back ´discharged´. Neal needs to talk to Peter, but he knows that is impossible now. He finishes his supper and is led to his room. He sleeps fitfully that night as he dreams about Otto, the other patients and his therapies. He wakes with a jolt and this time there are no attendants lifting him of his bed.   
A nurse comes in his room and says to Neal that he is having therapy instead of breakfast. Neal can´t stop the feeling of resistance and feels his body tense up. The nurse notices too and summons two attendants, who haul Neal up to a different treatment room.   
Neal has never been there and now he really puts up a fight when he sees the restraints. Whatever therapy this is, he doesn´t need it and he doesn´t want it, especially when he glances over and sees a doctor preparing a syringe. He is placed on the bed and the two attendants hold him down while the nurse fastens the restraints. The doctor walks up to him and Neal keeps struggling. But he can´t do anything to avoid the injection.   
At first Neal doesn´t seems to perceive anything different. But then he feels his face flush and he becomes drowsy. He hears someone moaning and then realizes that it’s actually himself.   
´What did you do to me?´ he slurs, and feels his mouth filling with saliva, making him drool. He hears the doctor say ´Note that I injected 450 units of insuline´. It is the last thing Neal hears before his body slips into an insulin induced coma.   
After an hour, the doctor inserts a NG-tube in Neal´s nose and they give him a high dose of glucose to rouse him from the coma. Within minutes Neal´s eyes start to flutter and he is regaining consciousness.  The doctor is happy with the results and Neal is wheeled back to his room. That is where he stays all day as he is too weak to get out of bed. By supper time Neal is brought to the dining room, where he sits staring at his food, not really hungry.   
He sees Peter talking to nurse Jeannie, they are both smiling. Neal is not feeling well and asks if he can go back to his room. The nurse says he should eat something.   
When Neal takes one bite, he pales visibly and two attendants escort him back to his room.   
Peter glances at Neal and sees how pale he is. He is worried about his partner, and he really wants to speak to Neal. He is starting small talk with Jeannie and asks what sorts of therapies they did today.    
´Doctor Brooke ordered some insulin therapies´.   
´Insulin therapy?´ Peter wonders.   
´Yeah, the doctor injects insulin and the patient´s blood sugar bottoms out and they slip into a coma´ Jeannie explains.   
´And this is beneficial for the patients?´   
´Yes, do you doubt the doctors?´ Jeannie asks surprised.   
´No, off course not. I am just a baseball coach, not a doctor´. Peter quickly replies.   
´It is getting late, so I am going to turn in´ Peter says. They say goodnight. Peter is even more worried. Did they actually perform this insulin therapy on Neal?   
The next morning he wakes up early and walks to the farm to have a quick ride on Arabesque.   
Just before breakfast he returns and when he walks to the main building he sees that another snowman has appeared overnight. He corrects himself: snowwoman. When he walks past the patient dining room, he doesn´t see Neal. His worry returns, he looks for nurse Jeannie but instead sees nurse Virginie, she also knows Neal.   
´Hi Virginie, I missed Nick, is he at breakfast?´   
´No, he is in a therapy session with doctor Bottega´.   
´You know where I can find them?´   
´Sorry, I can´t help you, I have been busy here with some patients´.

 

*  *  *

 

That morning Neal is again lifted from his warm bed by two attendants. One of them, Rob, has ice cold hands, Neal has noted this before. He is taken to the hydrotherapy room.  
Again, he gets mummified with chilled, wet sheets, eyes bandaged and left with his thoughts. His stomach rumbles, he is hungry. He is fed up with all these therapies, he needs to contact Peter. After a couple of hours , the sheets dry out and are even more constricting then when he placed in them. He feels panic rise in himself, but he wills himself to take deep breaths. But the panic rises and he starts struggling, to no avail. He is released before lunch, and he stiffly hurries to the dining room.  
That afternoon he is told to go work at the farm. It is freezing and Neal hurries to get there, smiling to himself when he sees the group of snowmen in the yard.  
Inside the stables it is warm and he gets the horse grooming gear. Neal is happy to touch the warm horse after the cold sheets and hands of the attendant. He startles when he finds Peter standing behind him.  
´How are you doing, Nick?´ Peter asks with worry in his voice.  
´OK, I guess, had some wet sheet therapy this morning´.  
´Neal, we already have three more persons missing, we need to speed things up in finding whoever is doing this. I don´t like the idea of you getting therapy, half of the time you can´t remember that you had it´ Peter whispers.  
Peter leaves Neal to work on the horses and walks back to the main building. Three patients missing, 2 male patients and one female patient. Peter wonders if they were therapies that went wrong or something even more sinister? It doesn´t matter whatsoever is the reason, he feels that Neal is in real danger. They need to close this case as soon as possible, if he wants to keep Neal safe.  
When he arrives at the training hall, he misses one of the players, Marcel, that is probably late, so he starts training. However, Marcel doesn´t turn up even later. After practice, he is putting all the material away and walks with one of the players back to the main building to go to dinner.  
  
* * *  
  
The next morning, Neal has breakfast for the first time in a couple of days. However weak the coffee is, he enjoys it. After breakfast he is told to go to therapy at the second floor. The nurse sees Neal´s reluctance, so she calls two attendants to escort him. Neal recognizes Rob, and again his hands are ice cold. He is dragged to the ECT-room and his struggling becomes desperate as he realizes what the doctor has in store for him. He is placed on a bed with full body restraints.  
An attendant, that Neal has never seen, stands at the head of the bed and puts the familiar rubber heel in Neal´s mouth, so he won´t bite his own tongue during the convulsion stage. Neal only notices an incredible headache and then blacks out. He isn´t conscious that he is having a seizure and that four attendants hold his body pinned to the bed. When his body stops shuddering, he is wheeled back to his room. After some time he wakes up with an incredible headache. This must be the worst experience he has ever had. He succeeds to get up from the cot and bangs on the door until an attendant comes to check on him.  
´Can I get something for my headache, my head is killing me´ Neal gives him his most pathetic look. A couple of minutes later, a nurse comes in with a pill. Neal swallows it without saying a word. Off all the therapies he has had in Overbrooke, this is definitely the worst.  
  
* * *  
  
It´s Christmas time and finally El comes to visit Neal again and leaves a message for Peter.  
The food is marginally better, so Neal tries to enjoy it. The staff has their own Christmas dinner and Peter finds himself to be seated between nurse Jeannie and nurse Virginie. He asks them about Neal under the pretext of wanting to recruit him for his baseball team.  
´He looks like a fit enough guy´, Peter tries.  
´He is fit alright, but also very anxious and easily upset´ Jeannie tells him.  
Who wouldn´t, Peter thinks.  
´He looks worn, tired, I thought the exercise would do him good´.  
´I don´t know, Peter, he is doctor Bottega and doctor Brooke´s pet project, at least that is what I heard in the corridors´.  
Peter refills their glasses with the cheap wine they were serving throughout dinner.  
´Pet project?´ he asks innocently.  
´Yeah, I heard doctor Brooke tell doctor Bottega that Nick will make a nice project. I guess he is talking about the paper he is writing for university.´  
´Yeah, probably, what do we know about these things?´ Peter states.  
They have a pleasant dinner but Peter is now really worried. Being a pet project to some doctors in an asylum cannot be good.  
After dinner, they have some drinks and make more small talks. Peter doesn´t mind that the young women seem to get a bit tipsy, because they are now talking about some vanished patients. It turns out that the medical staff knows about the disappearances, but is not allowed to bring it out fearing a bad name for the treatment clinic. Jeannie and Virginie suspect that someone of the medical staff is responsible. This only confirms Peter´s suspicions.  
The patients are also allowed to stay up, so Neal sits with the inmates in the day recreation room, where they placed a Christmas tree.  
When Peter walks past the room, he hears Neal singing Christmas carols, and when he peers inside he sees that one of the other patients is playing the piano while Neal and a female patient take on a duet. Peter is glad that Neal at least sounds OK.  
When it is bedtime, Neal is looking out of the window at the three snowmen. He imagines that whoever has made them, must have been cold.  
Cold…  
Cold hands…  
Rob always has cold hands…, every morning when he touched Neal…  
It must be a coincidence. Still, he should tell Peter.  
  
* * *  
  
Two days later, after breakfast, Neal must again report to the ECT-room. The room holds as much terror to Neal as the electric chair for convicts in death row, so he scrambles, and starts walking to the farm. He reports there at the attendant like everything would be normal.  
He starts grooming Arabesque and sees Peter walk in, he gives a small nod to Peter to indicate that he needs to talk to him.  
Neal explains to Peter that one of the attendants has always cold hands, like he has been working outside, which it’s odd because the hard labor is done by inmates from the local Essex County Jail wheres patients perform the more easy duties. The attendants don´t do physical labor outside.  
´This is not enough, Neal´  
At that moment Rob enters the stables and grabs Neal , who is slowly backing away. Two other attendants see what is going on and they grab Neal from behind.  
´I told you after breakfast to report to the ECT-room, haven´t I?´ Rob demands from Neal.  
Neal doesn´t say anything, as there is nothing to say.  
´Nick is doing a great job here´, Peter tries as he sees the horror in Neal´s eyes.  
´Don´t interfere coach, doctor ´s orders´.  
Neal is dragged from the stables to the main building. He is again let into the ECT-room and starts struggling for dear life. This is a therapy he doesn´t want repeated. Two more attendants restrain Neal to the table. Neal tries to keep his mouth shut, so the nurse cannot put the rubber heel in his mouth, but she just pinches his nose until Neal needs to open his mouth to breath. Once the heel is in his mouth, the doctor gives the shock and Neal starts to convulse.  
Neal blacks out and shudders through the last convulsions, finally staying motionless. He is wheeled back to his own room.  
Peter has followed them and sees an unconsciousness Neal being wheeled away. He waits a couple of minutes and tries the door and to his surprise it is unlocked.  
He enters the room and sees Neal lying unconsciousness in the hospital bed.  
So this is Neal´s room…  
Not much really, off-white walls, bed with a flimsy mattress. He walks up to Neal and gently touches him. Neal blearily opens his eyes, which were unfocused.  
´What just happened?´ Peter asks.  
´I don´t know, I have an incredible headache, was I in an accident?´, Neal starts smiling.  
´What are you smiling at?´ Peter asks concerned.  
´Don´t you smell the strawberries?´  
´Strawberries? Neal, it is December, we…´ But before Peter can finish his sentence, Neal start seizing. Peter scrambles at the door and calls for help.  
A nurse and an attendant come running and when Peter goes back into the room, he sees that the seizure is over, but there is blood everywhere over Neal´s face and chest.  
´He has bitten his tongue, no worries.´, one of them say then leaves to get a clean set of garments and sheets. The attendant walks over to Peter.  
´What are you doing here, coach?´ Peter only now notices that it is Rob, the attendant that Neal is afraid of.  
´Nothing, just wanted to make sure Neal was OK, I guess, he is not´. Peter tries.  
´Why are you so interested in Nick, coach?´  
´Oh, I want him to play in the baseball team coming season´.  
´Well coach, Nick is not a big sport fan and he won´t be around next season.´ Rob says in an intimidating voice. Peter thinks it is best not to antagonize Rob, so he starts walking out of the room, when Rob grabs his arm, his hands are ice cold.  
When Peter looks into Rob´s eyes, he cannot shake the feeling he´s looking at a cold blooded killer.  
´Let go off me´ Peter jerks his arm free and walks out of the room. So Rob is the attendant Neal was talking about.  
While walking back to the villa, Peter´s keen eye sees the snowmen.  
´What if?´ he stares at them, not noticing that Rob is watching him from the main building. He also doesn’t see the sinister look when Rob reenters the building and walks to doctor Brooke´s office. He has the perfect candidate for doctor Brooke´s next lobotomy.  
  
* * *  
  
When Neal wakes up, he realizes that his tongue hurts like hell, and his head even worse.  
He can´t really concentrate. Where is he? What happened? He tries to focus, bland white walls, sheets with starch, it can only mean one thing, hospital. He wants to get up, but he is so tired,, he just closes his eyes.  
Peter in the meantime has followed up on his suspicions and has walked over to the snowmen. He tries to pry away some of the snow, but the frost has iced the snowmen and it doesn´t really work. Peter tries in vain to push the head off and when he puts too much force on the snowman, it just falls over, revealing two feet, human feet.  
It turns out to be a poor human being inside a packed snow form. Suddenly, Peter´s mind wonders to the killer, Rob… He has left Neal with a serial killer. He runs back to the main building to Neal´s room, but it is empty.  
When he leaves the room, he bumps into nurse Jeannie.  
´Do you know where Nick is?´  
´I am sorry coach, you know I can´t discuss patients with non-medical staff´.  
´My name is special agent Peter Burke, and I am in pursuit of a serial killer. Rob has killed 3 patients and has Nick now! Please Jeannie, help Nick´. “.  
´He is taken for a lobotomy, they took him to the operating theatre´.  
´Show me´, Peter shouts. Peter and Jeannie can hear Neal scream through the hallway. When Peter enters the room, the screaming abruptly stops and doctor Brooke is just about to jam what looks like an ice pick in Neal´s eye socket.  
´FBI, move away from the patient´. Peter is focused on the doctor holding the ice pick. Neal looks unconsciousness, face all slack. Peter doesn´t notice that Rob is trying to leave the operating theatre behind his back.  
Suddenly Peter hears Jeannie shout ´Watch out´. Since he turns away at the last minute, Peter only gets grazed on the side of his head. He immediately gives chase after Rob.  
´FBI, Rob, you are under arrest´  
Rob keeps running, but the commotion has drawn the medical staff out and two attendants stop Rob down the hall. They are more than capable of handling an uncooperative human being.  
Peter explains the situation and that Rob needs to be restrained until the local police can take him. Luckily, the attendants know how to restrain an unwilling person.  
Peter quickly runs back to the operating theatre where two nurses are trying to revive Neal.  
  
* * *  
  
When Neal wakes from his ´sedation´, which, to Peter´s horror, turned out to be two blows to the head, Neal is lightheaded, confused and docile. Doctor Bottega offers a VIP hospital bed at the asylum, but Peter refuses.  
They bring Neal back to the city by ambulance, and he will recuperate at the Burke´s house.  
The physical damage turns out not too severe, Neal will make a full recovery, but the psychologically damage is much worse. Neal doesn´t want to talk about it and Peter feels guilty for not figuring it out sooner.  
Rob turned out to be a serial killer who was committed to the asylum, but was able to kill one of the new attendants and take his place.  
Being able to be in the room when patients were´ treated´ had satisfied his sadistic tendencies but weren´t enough in the long run. That is why he started killing again.  
He was turned over to the justice department and he was convicted to the electric chair.  
  
* * *  
  
Six months later, Peter and Neal are working at the FBI headquarters and Peter receives an envelope with the emblem of the jail Rob was sent to. It is the official statement that the death sentence has been executed.  
Peter gives a small sigh of relief although he is not happy with the loss of a human life. However, he is glad that Neal will now be able to relax, as he doesn´t have to worry that Rob will escape from prison.  
´Let´s go Neal´ Peter says as he grabs his hat. I have something to tell you. They walk to their usual coffee shop while Peter informs Neal, who relaxes visually.  
´It is OK, Neal, you will be OK.´

 

 


End file.
